Tour de France 2015: Contenders, teams, riders

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Twenty-two teams consisting of nine riders each will depart from Utrecht on Saturday, July 4, kicking off the 102nd Tour de France. 

Below is all the personnel information you’ll need, from who’s competing to who the favorites are for the yellow jersey.

 

Who are the contenders for this year’s Tour de France?

Vincenzo Nibali: The 2014 winner is back for a repeat, but it won’t be as easy as last year’s seven-minute victory. The two-time Italian national champion hasn’t won a major stage race since his Tour win in 2014 and is hoping a tough 2015 won’t hurt his chances.

Alberto Contador: The two-time winner (2007 and 2009) is hoping to become the first rider since 1998 to win both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same year. 

Chris Froome: His crash out in stage 5 of last year’s Tour is long forgotten. Froome is coming off a strong finish to this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné, winning the final two stages to beat out Tejay van Garderen.

Nairo Quintana: The 2013 Tour de France runner-up and 2014 Giro d’Italia winner is one of the youngest riders and most talented climbers of this year’s Tour. He won the polka dot jersey (King of the Mountains) in 2013, but this year, at 25, his eyes are on the yellow jersey.

Tejay van Garderen: Will van Garderen re-spark America’s interest in cycling with a strong showing at the Tour? He finished a career-best fifth twice (2012 and 2014) and is hoping for more after a second-place finish at this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné that he said was disappointing.

 

Where can I find a full list of participants?

Right here, of course. Below is a list of all 22 teams and 198 riders in alphabetical order.

AG2R La Mondiale (France): Won team classification in 2014

Team leaders: Romain Bardet (France) and Jean-Christophe Péraud (France), 2014 Tour de France runner-up

Other riders: Jan Bakelandts (Belgium), Mikaël Cherel (France), Ben Gastauer (Luxembourg), Damien Gaudin (France), Christophe Riblon (France), Johan Vansummeren (Belgium), Alexis Vuillermoz (France)

Astana Pro Team (Kazakhstan)  

Team leader: Vincenzo Nibali (Italy), won Tour de France in 2014

Other riders: Lars Boom (Netherlands), Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark), Andrei Grivko (Ukraine), Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kazakhstan), Tanel Kangert (Estonia), Michele Scarponi (Italy), Rein Taaramae (Estonia), Lieuwe Westra (Netherlands)

BMC Racing Team (United States)

Team leader: Tejay van Garderen (United States)

Other riders: Damiano Caruso (Italy), Rohan Dennis (Australia), Daniel Oss (Italy), Manuel Quinziato (Italy), Samuel Sánchez (Spain), Michael Schär (Switzerland), Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium), Danilo Wyss (Switzerland)

Bora-Argon 18 (Germany)

Team leaders: Sam Bennett (Ireland) and Dominik Nerz (Germany)

Other riders: Jan Barta (Czech Republic), Emanuel Buchmann (Germany), Zakkari Dempster (Australia), Bartosz Huzarski (Poland), Jose Mendes (Portugal), Andreas Schillinger (Germany), Paul Voss (Germany)

Bretagne-Séché Environnement (France)

Team leader: Eduardo Sepúlveda (Argentina)

Other riders: Frédéric Brun (France), Anthony Delaplace (France), Brice Feillu (France), Pierrick Fédrigo (France), Armindo Fonseca (France), Arnaud Gérard (France), Pierre-Luc Périchon (France), Florian Vachon (France)

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (France)

Team leader: Nacer Bouhanni (France)

Other riders: Nicolas Edet (France), Christophe Laporte (France), Luis Angel Maté (Spain), Daniel Navarro (Spain), Florian Sénéchal (France), Geoffrey Soupe (France), Julien Simon (France) OR Kenneth Van Bilsen (Belgium)

Etixx-Quick Step (Belgium)

Team leader: Mark Cavendish (Great Britain)

Other riders: Michal Golas (Poland), Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland), Tony Martin (Germany), Mark Renshaw (Australia), Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic), Matteo Trentin (Ireland), Rigoberto Urán (Colombia), Julien Vermote (Belgium)

FDJ (France)

Team leader: Thibaut Pinot (France), third place in 2014 Tour de France

Domestiques: William Bonnet (France), Sébastien Chavanel (France), Arnaud Démare (France), Alexandre Geniez (France), Matthieu Ladagnous (France), Steve Morabito (Switzerland), Jérémy Roy (France), Benoît Vaugrenard (France)

IAM Cycling (Switzerland)

Team leader: Mathias Frank (Switzerland)

Other riders: Matthias Brändle (Austria), Sylvain Chavanel (France), Stef Clement (Netherlands), Jérôme Coppel (France), Martin Elmiger (Switzerland), Reto Hollenstein (Switzerland), Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia), Marcel Wyss (Switzerland)

Lampre-Merida (Italy)

Team leader: Rui Costa (Portugal)

Other riders: Matteo Bono (Italy), Davide Cimolai (Italy), Kristijan Durasek (Croatia), Nelson Oliveira (Portugal), Rubèn Plaza Molina (Spain), Filippo Pozzato (Italy), Josè Serpa Perez (Colombia), Rafael Valls Ferri (Spain)

Lotto Soudal (Belgium)

Team leader: André Greipel (Germany)

Other riders: Lars Bak (Denmark), Thomas De Gendt (Belgium), Jens Debusschere (Belgium), Tony Gallopin (France), Adam Hansen (Australia), Greg Henderson (New Zealand), Marcel Sieberg (Germany), Tim Wellens (Belgium)

Movistar Team (Spain)

Team leader: Nairo Quintana (Colombia)

Alternate leader: Alejandro Valverde (Spain)
Other riders: Winner Anaconda (Colombia), Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain), Alex Dowsett (Great Britain), Imanol Erviti (Spain), Gorka Izagirre (Spain), José Herrada (Spain), Adriano Malori (Italy)

MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung (South Africa)

Team leader: Tyler Farrar (United States)

Other riders: Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway), Steve Cummings (Great Britain), Jacques Janse van Rensburg (South Africa), Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (South Africa), Merhawi Kudus (Eritrea), Louis Meintjes (South Africa), Serge Pauwels (Belgium), Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eritrea)

Orica GreenEDGE (Australia)

Team leaders: Simon Gerrans (Australia) and Michael Matthews (Australia)

Other riders: Michael Albasini (Switzerland), Luke Durbridge (Australia), Daryl Impey (South Africa), Svein Tuft (Canada), Peter Weening (Netherlands), Adam Yates (Great Britain), Simon Yates (Great Britain)

Team Cannondale-Garmin (United States)

Team leaders: Ryder Hesjedal (Canada), Dan Martin (Ireland) and Andrew Talansky (United States)

Other riders: Jack Bauer (New Zealand), Nathan Haas (Australia), Kristijan Koren (Slovakia), Sebastian Langeveld (Netherlands), Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania), Dylan van Baarle (Netherlands)

Team Europcar (France)

Team leaders: Bryan Coquard (France), Pierre Rolland (France) and Thomas Voeckler (France)

Other riders: Cyril Gautier (France), Yohann Gène (France), Bryan Nauleau (France), Perrig Quemeneur (France), Romain Sicard (France), Angelo Tulik (France)

Team Giant-Alpecin (Germany)

Team leader: John Degenkolb (Germany) 

Other riders: Warren Barguil (France), Roy Curvers (Netherlands), Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands), Simon Geschke (Germany), Koen de Kort (Netherlands), Georg Preidler (Austria), Ramon Sinkeldam (Netherlands), Albert Timmer (Netherlands)

Team Katusha (Russia)

Team leaders: Alexander Kristoff (Norway) and Joaquim Rodríguez (Spain)

Other riders: Giampaolo Craruso (Italy), Jacopo Guarnieri (Italy), Marco Haller (Austria), Dmitry Kozontchuk (Russia), Alberto Losada (Spain), Tiago Machado (Portugal), Luca Paolini (Italy)

Team Lotto NL-Jumbo (Netherlands)

Team leaders: Robert Gesink (Netherlands) and Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands)

Alternate leaders: Steven Kruijswijk (Netherlands) and Laurens ten Dam (Netherlands)

Other riders: Tom Leezer (Netherlands), Paul Martens (Germany), Bram Tankink (Netherlands), Jos van Emden (Netherlands), Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium)

Team Sky (Great Britain)

Team leader: Chris Froome (Great Britain), won Tour de France in 2013

Other riders: Peter Kennaugh (Great Britain), Leopold Konig (Czech Republic), Wout Poels (Netherlands), Richie Porte (Australia), Nicolas Roche (Ireland), Luke Rowe (Great Britain), Ian Stannard (Great Britain), Geraint Thomas (Great Britain)

Tinkoff-Saxo (Russia)

Team leader: Alberto Contador (Spain), won Tour de France in 2007 and 2009

Other riders: Ivan Basso (Italy), Daniele Bennati (Italy), Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic), Rafal Majka (Poland), Michael Rogers (Australia), Peter Sagan (Slovakia), Matteo Tosatto (Italy), Michael Valgren (Denmark)

Trek Factory Racing (United States)

Team leaders: Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) and Bauke Mollema (Netherlands)

Domestiques: Julian Arredondo (Colombia), Stijn Devolder (Belgium), Laurent Didier (Luxembourg), Markel Irizar (Spain), Bob Jungels (Luxembourg), Gregory Rast (Switzerland), Haimar Zubeldia (Spain)

 

Who are some notable riders not racing?

Frank Schleck (Trek Factory Racing): Knee ligament inflammation

Marcel Kittel (Team Giant-Alpecin): Recovering from virus

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